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November 20, 2007 

China Metallurgical Group wins Afghan copper mine bid
By Hamid Shalizi Reuters - Tuesday, November 20 10:14 am
KABUL (Reuters) - State-owned China Metallurgical Group won a tender on Tuesday to develop a large Afghan copper deposit in a $3 billion-project, the largest foreign investment in Afghanistan's history.

The deposit, at Aynak, east of the capital Kabul, is thought to contain up to 13 million tonnes of copper.

The Chinese company will invest $2.898 billion in the project and after construction is complete in five years time, pay the Afghan government $400 million a year to operate the mine.

"This is the biggest investment in Afghanistan's history and 10,000 people will be employed to work there," Afghan Mines Minister Ibrahim Adel said.

Afghanistan's economy relies heavily on aid.

"We estimate there are 13 million tonnes of copper present," Adel said, adding the figure might rise to 20 million tonnes.

The Chinese group plan to extract some 200,000 tonnes of copper a year.

The deposit was discovered in 1974 and surveyed by Soviet geologists in 1979, but was never developed due to more-or-less constant civil war since then.

The site is peppered with exploratory holes drilled by the Soviets, littered with landmines and has a number of large craters from U.S. bombs dropped on what was then a military training camp in late 2001.

China Metallurgical Group will first have to build a power station to run to the mine and find coal deposits to fuel the power station. A small town is to be constructed at the site to house the mine workers.

Excess electricity from the power plant will be routed to Kabul which gets only a few hours of electricity a day.

The four losing short-listed bids were from Strikeforce, part of Russia's Basic Element Group, the London-based Kazakhmys Consortium, Hunter Dickinson of Canada and U.S. copper mining firm, Phelps Dodge.

China Metallurgical Group has invested US$1 billion in mining resources overseas, including iron, copper, gold, nickel, zinc and aluminium, according to its Web site.

(Reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Valerie Lee and Michael Roddy)
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US urged to spend more on Afghan aid
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer Tue Nov 20, 7:33 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S. spending on aid work in Afghanistan is only a fraction of what the American military spends, and too much of the aid money pays the high salaries of expatriate employees, a British aid agency said Tuesday.

Airstrikes from U.S.-led coalition forces, meanwhile, killed a "large group" of insurgents in southern Afghanistan early Tuesday, the coalition said in a statement. A provincial police chief said 14 militants were killed in the operation.

Though the government aid arm U.S. Agency for International Development has spent more than $4.4 billion in Afghanistan since 2002, British aid agency Oxfam said that figure is dwarfed by U.S. military spending here — some $35 billion in 2007 alone.

"As in Iraq, too much aid is absorbed by profits of companies and subcontractors, on non-Afghan resources and on high expatriate salaries and living costs," said the report, which was prepared for a British parliament committee. "Each full-time expatriate consultant costs up to half a million dollars a year."

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said it couldn't immediately comment.

The report said "urgent action" is needed to avert humanitarian disaster and that millions of rural Afghans face "severe hardship comparable with sub-Saharan Africa."

The report said donors must improve the efficiency of its aid work with a greater use of Afghan resources.

"Some two-thirds of U.S. foreign assistance bypasses the Afghan government that officials say they want to strengthen," Oxfam said.

Since the U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan has received more than $15 billion from the international community. Oxfam said continued aid will be crucial to Afghanistan's development for years to come.

The group said the education and health sectors in Afghanistan have improved dramatically since 2001, but that more work needs to be done. It noted that though school enrollment is up, only 50 percent of boys and 20 percent of girls attend primary school. The numbers drop to 20 percent and 5 percent, respectively, for high school classes.

Of 220 schools in Daykundi province, it said, only 28 have buildings. Of 1,000 teachers, only two are professionally qualified.

In the southern province of Uruzgan, meanwhile, coalition and Afghan forces used airstrikes to kill a "large group" of insurgents that had tried to ambush the troops, the coalition said.

The authorities recovered the bodies of 14 dead militants alongside their weapons, said Uruzgan's police chief Juma Gul Himat.

Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said around 10 Taliban were killed in the fighting near Tirin Kot, the provincial capital.

The coalition said about 125 Taliban fighters attacked the coalition and Afghan forces with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire during a "botched ambush."

Afghanistan has seen record levels of violence this year. More than 6,000 people have been killed in insurgency related violence in 2007, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.
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AFGHANISTAN: Oxfam calls for aid to be more effective, transparent
20 Nov 2007 15:36:26 GMT
More  KABUL, 20 November 2007 (IRIN) - Over US$15 billion of international aid money spent in Afghanistan in the past six years has not met the urgent humanitarian and development needs of the Afghan people because aid has either been insufficient or delivered ineffectively, a British charity organisation, Oxfam GB, said in a report.

"Too much aid to Afghanistan is provided in ways that are ineffective or inefficient," said the report which was submitted to a committee of the House of Commons, in London, last week and made publicly available on 20 November.

According to Oxfam, a big portion of the overall aid to Afghanistan "is absorbed by profits of companies and subcontractors, by non-Afghan resources and by high expatriate salaries and living costs".

"Each full-time expatriate consultant costs up to half a million dollars a year," the report has found.

The Oxfam report points to poor coordination among donors and a lack of transparency in aid spending which badly affects aid effectiveness. It also mentions weak implementing capacity, corruption and lack of resources in Afghan government institutions, exacerbating aid inefficiencies.

Although agriculture is a major means of income for about 80 percent of Afghans, donors and the government of Afghanistan have only spent $270 million on agricultural projects in the last six years, Oxfam's findings show.

Call for increased use of Afghan resources

Owing to wasteful and ineffective aid totalling over $15 billion, millions of Afghans, particularly in rural areas, still face severe hardship "comparable with sub-Saharan Africa", the report said.

"Millions of highly vulnerable people in Afghanistan still need urgent support and assistance," Matt Waldman, the author of the Oxfam report, told IRIN in Kabul.

The 24-page report calls on donors to increase the amount of aid to the war-ravaged nation, ensure transparency, increase coordination and improve aid effectiveness through increased use of Afghan resources.

"The Afghanistan Compact [a strategic framework for the sustainable and balanced development of Afghanistan, agreed between Afghans and donors] sets 77 benchmarks for the Afghan government, but none for donors," said Waldman, adding that donors should take bold measures to change the current direction of aid delivery to Afghanistan.

Among Oxfam's recommendations is the establishment of an independent commission which should monitor aid delivery to, and aid effectiveness in, Afghanistan.

A spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Adrian Edwards, agreed that there was a need for the government of Afghanistan to strengthen its institutional capacity to better manage and absorb international funds.

Donors should also improve aid delivery to, and effectiveness in, Afghanistan, Edwards said.
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Afghan and U.S. troops kill large number of Taliban
Tue Nov 20, 2:54 AM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan and U.S.-led coalition troops, backed by air power, killed a large number of Taliban fighters on Tuesday after an insurgent ambush in the south of the country, the U.S. military said.

The number of clashes and bomb attacks has risen in Afghanistan by up to 30 percent this year, according to United Nations estimates.

Despite suffering heavy casualties, the hardline Islamist Taliban has shown no let-up in its campaign to oust the pro-Western Afghan government and eject the 50,000 foreign troops from the country.

The latest clash came as a "company-size" group of Taliban insurgents ambushed a joint Afghan-coalition patrol with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades near the village of Sarsina, in the south-central province of Uruzgan.

In the U.S. army a company is usually around 100 troops.

The insurgents attempted to outflank the troops and moved into a nearby building and trench line, forcing civilians to flee. Troops then pinned down the Taliban fighters and called in air support.

"Several precision air strikes effectively eliminated the Taliban insurgents who were trying to reinforce the enemy positions," the U.S. military statement said. A "large number" of insurgents were killed, it said, without giving further details.

Winter has arrived late in Afghanistan this year and the traditional lull in fighting during the harsh weather has yet to take effect. Both sides in the conflict have vowed to keep up campaigning during the winter.

(Writing by Jon Hemming, editing by Roger Crabb)
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Afghan boys suffer mental scars after suicide bomb
By Tahir Qadiry
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan schoolboy Naqibullah fears closing his eyes.

Each time he tries to go to sleep, he relives a suicide bombing that killed dozens of his classmates.

"I dream about the attack. I see the wounded and dead bodies around me," said Naqibullah, 14, who was wounded in the blast two weeks ago in the northern Afghan town of Baghlan.

The bomber blew himself up as boys from a high school lined up to greet a group of parliamentarians visiting a sugar factory.

Survivors are suffering dangerous psychological scars, doctors say.

Khalilullah Narmgoy, the head of the local hospital, said most of the children, while slowly recovering from their physical wounds, needed long-term psychological care.

"Most of these children are suffering from depression," he said. "I, as a doctor, who was standing 15 meters (yards) from the attack, have been affected by it. I was shocked by it and now dream about dangerous things."

The blast killed 72 people, including 52 schoolboys and five of their teachers. Six parliamentarians also died.

"I panic badly. I dream about very dangerous things and wake up shouting," said Lotfullah, 14, who is also being treated for wounds in the Baghlan hospital.

Parents worried how their children would cope.

"My son wakes up crying every night. We are very worried about him ... He speaks about the dead and dogs following him," said Nafisa. The blast killed one son and wounded another.

Mohammad Shokor's son was about to undergo an operation.

"I don't know how he will live. He is badly frightened. He talks nonsense to himself."

Other parents had stopped sending their children to school.

"Our survey shows parents were also badly scared by this attack," said Narmgoy.

"They either do not send their children to school, or if they go they cannot concentrate on their lessons."

Dr. Kaneshka Urmiz, a psychologist, warned the sudden and violent shock the boys had suffered, unless treated, might affect them badly in later life.

"These children could grow up to be thugs or criminals in the future ... They can be depressed and dangerous people, unless they are looked after."

Taliban insurgents have killed more than 200 civilians in at least 130 suicide bombs this year, but denied responsibility for the Baghlan attack. Police and officials are tight-lipped over results from their ongoing investigation into the bombing.

(Writing by Jon Hemming, editing by David Fogarty)
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Video threatens Germany, Austria over Afghanistan
20 Nov 2007 15:52:30 GMT
More  VIENNA, Nov 20 (Reuters) - An Islamist group calling itself "Global Islamic Media Front" has sent a video demanding Germany and Austria withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, Austria's interior ministry said on Tuesday.

The video, published on the web site of Austrian daily newspaper Oesterreich, also demands the release of two Austrians arrested in Vienna in September on allegations they helped produce a similar video message published in March.

"The German soldiers still occupy Afghanistan and we repeat our call from the last video that Germany withdraw their troops from Afghanistan," the video's German subtitles say. "This only serves your own security in your country.

"The same applies to Austria too. The Mujahideen have spared you so far, therefore the number of dead soldiers is not particularly high. But this will now change..."

Germany has some 3,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of the ISAF mission. Three Austrian soldiers serve as part of ISAF in Kabul.

"We address the Austrian government: We demand the brothers and sisters arrested in Vienna be released immediately, or else you will regret that you dared to lock up Muslims in your prisons," it says.

A spokesman for the Austrian interior ministry said it got the video a few days ago and is investigating its origins.

"There is no identifiable, immediate threat, but nevertheless such a message needs to be taken seriously," the ministry's Rudolf Gollia said. Austria has not raised security levels for government members. (Reporting by Alexandra Zawadil and Boris Groendahl; writing by Boris Groendahl; editing by Robert Woodward)
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Karzai under fire for his crowning gesture
President criticized for involvement in tribal affairs; young son of late mullah faces doubts he's up to the task as clan's new leader
GRAEME SMITH From Tuesday's Globe and Mail November 20, 2007 at 4:11 AM EST
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — Hamid Karzai flew to Kandahar last month for a ceremony that later emerged as a key moment in the war against the Taliban, although many people here are still arguing about whether the Afghan president averted disaster or opened a new tribal conflict with his visit to the south.

Mr. Karzai arrived shortly after the legendary warrior Mullah Naqib died of a heart attack on Oct. 11. As hundreds of mourners gathered in the front garden of Mr. Naqib's home on the north side of Kandahar city, the president stood and placed a silver turban on the boyish head of Kalimullah Naqibi, the tribal elder's 26-year-old son.

The gesture crowned Mr. Naqibi as the new leader of the Alokozai tribe, a populous and powerful clan that controls strategic territory around Kandahar city, making them the informal gatekeepers between the government's urban enclaves and the wild country beyond.

Some politicians in the city approved of the President's action, viewing it as a swift intervention to give the tribe a leader with firm loyalty to the central government. Mr. Naqibi and his supporters say the move was purely decorous, a symbol of the President's approval for a decision already taken by top elders in the tribe.

But senior members of the Alokozai's leadership are publicly expressing their discontent, blaming Mr. Karzai for interfering in their affairs and violating their traditions. Installing an untested young man as their tribal leader has hurt security, they say, pointing to the fact that, within weeks of the decision, Canadian and Afghan troops were required to push back the first major Taliban attack on Alokozai lands north of the city.

General Khan Mohammed, an Alokozai tribesman who serves as an adviser to the Interior Minister, said he recently visited Mr. Karzai at his palace with another senior elder to complain about the selection of the young leader.

"I said, 'Why did you put the turban on Kalimullah's head?' " Gen. Mohammed said in an interview at his home in the capital. "The tribe didn't choose this leader. I told him, you're increasing the violence in our lands."

Despite his misgivings, Gen. Mohammed said he remains loyal to the young Mr. Naqibi, after serving as his father's trusted deputy through the anti-Soviet wars of the 1980s. While wishing success for Mr. Naqibi, however, Gen. Mohammed hinted that he himself would make a better chief. The Alokozais need an experienced military commander to defend themselves from the insurgents, he said, noting that the Taliban didn't attack the Alokozai territory north of the city until he had left the province for duties in Kabul, making him unavailable to lead the counterattack.

During his meeting with Mr. Karzai, Gen. Mohammed said the President reacted with surprise at his objections. Gen. Mohammed had participated in the ceremony that anointed Mr. Naqibi, the President said, asking why the battle-hardened warrior didn't voice his objections at the time.

Variations of the same question are asked in private by senior politicians in Kandahar, who say the disgruntled contenders for the Alokozai leadership are trying to revoke the blessings they have already bestowed on Mr. Naqibi.

But the rules of Pashtun tribal etiquette forbade anybody from raising a fuss in the wake of Mr. Naqib's death, Gen. Mohammed said, so the elders in attendance that night didn't feel comfortable raising their voices against the President.

"I told [Mr. Karzai], 'You're a Pashtun, you know our culture. ... This is the first time ever in Afghanistan, that a leader is chosen like this.' "

A Western diplomat in Kabul acknowledged that tribes usually choose their own leaders, but added that it's customary in Afghanistan for the central government to play a role in the selection of such an important figure as the Alokozai chief.

Besides himself, Gen. Mohammed said another contender for the leadership would have been Azizullah Wasifi, a former agriculture minister and aide to the late king.

Mr. Karzai telephoned Mr. Wasifi in the presence of the Alokozai elders to consult him about the selection of tribal chief, and the old politician gave his approval. But his son, Izzatullah Wasifi, director-general of Afghanistan's anti-corruption agency, now raises a similar objection to the process.

"You can't put a turban on somebody's head and make him your toy," Mr. Wasifi said. "A lot of people are complaining about this."

Some of the complainers gathered recently in the guest room of Mr. Wasifi's home in Kabul, sitting on the thick carpets and talking politics.

"Karzai announced that Kalimullah was going to be our tribal elder, and in that moment nobody could complain," said Haji Feda Mohammed, a landowner from Arghandab district, flicking his cigarette into a metal spittoon. "If he can bring together the tribe, it's okay. But we will see."

The newly minted Alokozai leader says he can feel the pressure of such scrutiny. Sitting in his father's old house, Mr. Naqibi's pudgy, youthful face showed a mix of emotions as he recalled the moment when the President wrapped the shiny new turban around his head.

"I was happy to be selected," he said. "It's a holy job, to help the people."

He smiled, but then his face clouded for a moment. He invoked a Pashto saying: "When the turban falls from the head, it lands on the shoulders," meaning that the burdens of the father are passed to the sons.

"It's a big responsibility," he said.

Tribes of Kandahar

A selected list of major tribes around Kandahar shows how Canadian troops' understanding of the ancient divisions of the Pashtuns has become a vital part of the war.

PASHTUN

An estimated 13 million Pashtuns live in Afghanistan, mostly in the south and east. In Kandahar, they have two main branches: The Durrani and Ghilzai.

DURRANI

ZIRAK DURRANI and PANJPAI DURRANI

Most of the people who live in Kandahar, with the exception of the nomadic Kuchi herders, belong to a tribe that falls into the Durranis and the Ghilzais. The tribal identity often influences their politics, and whether they support or oppose the government of President Hamid Karzai. Zirak Durranis tend to favour the government, while Panjpai Durranis and Ghilzais often feel disenfranchised.

ZIRAK DURRANI

Government-aligned tribes

POPALZAI : President Hamid Karzai rules in the capital, while his brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, plays a major role in Kandahar as chairman of the provincial council.

ALOKOZAI: The late Mullah Naqib was the President's biggest ally in the south, and his tribesmen remain an important bulwark around the city.

BARAKZAI: Former Kandahar governor Gul Aga Shirzai retains influence and business ties to the province through his tribe.

ACHAKZAI: Abdul Razik, a flamboyant young police chief who controls the road crossing to Pakistan, is among this tribe's leading members.

PANJPAI DURRANI

Non-government-aligned tribes

NOORZAI: The politician Arif Noorzai may lead this tribe officially, but arguably its most influence member is Hafz Majid, a senior Taliban leader. The Noorzai are populous west of Kandahar city, the scene of recent battles.

ALIZAI: A bitter conflict between this tribe's leader in Kandahar, Habibullah Jan, and Ahmed Wali Karzai was a source of instability in the province until the two men reached a negotiated truce in recent weeks.

ISSAKZAI: With many of their home villages in the conflict zones of Kandahar and Helmand, they are reportedly fighting to defend their opium business.

KHOGANI

GHILZAI

Non-government-aligned tribes

HOTAK

TOKHI

NASIR

TARAKI

SOURCES: TRIBAL HIERARCHY AND DICTIONARY OF AFGHANISTAN: A REFERENCE AID FOR ANALYSTS (Feb., 2007)

COURAGE SERVICES INC., GIUSTOZZI, ANTONIO AND ULLAH, NOOR (2007) THE INVERTED CYCLE: KABUL AND THE STRONGMEN'S COMPETITION FOR CONTROL OVER KANDAHAR, 2001-2006, CENTRAL ASIAN SURVEY, 26:2, 167 - 184, BBC
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Poland not to reduce troops in Afghanistan
November 20, 2007 People's Daily
Poland will not reduce its current Afghanistan force but Polish troops will leave Iraq in 2008, new Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich said Monday.

Klich also supported Poland's involvement in training Afghan police under the EU's civilian mission in Afghanistan, according to Polish PAP news agency.

He said that Poland was ready to send 350 troops to Chad under the EU's peace mission in the country provided it received logistic aid.

The logistics for Polish Chad troops would come from France, which heads the mission, or the EU's Athena military fund, added the defense minister.

Klich assured Poland would withdraw from Iraq in 2008, but declined to say whether this would be in the first or second half of the year.

Poland currently has about 900 troops stationed in Iraq.
Source: Xinhua
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The civilian presence in modern warfare
The military is increasingly dependent on contractors to provide essential services in Afghanistan, write Andrew Mayeda and Mike Blanchfield. The practice raises important questions about how the government can remain in charge and accountable for Canada's war efforts.
The Ottawa Citizen Monday, November 19, 2007
HOWZ-E-MADAD, Afghanistan - A rusty dumptruck pulls up to this remote, battle-scarred village and Samiullah Noory jumps out, a handgun tucked beneath his tunic.
Mr. Noory's company, Rahmat Sadat Construction, has been hired to deliver thousands of kilograms of gravel that Canadian combat engineers will use to build a security outpost for the Afghan National Army.

It's a job few Afghan companies are willing to take. Earlier this year, the Taliban killed Mr. Noory's older brother, who also worked as a contractor for NATO forces. That's when Mr. Noory, a supervisor for Rahmat Sadat, started carrying a gun to work.

"They said, 'Why do you work with the Americans, the foreigners?' " he said. "I'll be killed one day, too. But I'm not afraid of dying."

Mr. Noory's perseverance can be at least partly explained by something basic -- money. According to a CanWest News Service analysis, Rahmat Sadat has received more than $826,000 worth of business from the Canadian Forces in the past 18 months -- profitable work in a country where the average annual income is about $300. Welcome to the front line of the business of war.

In the past two decades, western governments have entrusted an increasing range of traditional military duties to civilian contractors. After the Cold War, countries, including Canada, cut their military budgets and troop levels. At the same time, the boundaries of modern warfare were rapidly changing. Armed with ever more sophisticated equipment, soldiers were deploying with greater frequency to hotspots around the world. Meanwhile, governments were increasingly outsourcing public services.

Military leaders say the use of private contractors allows soldiers to concentrate on what they do best: fighting the enemy.

"I see no reason why we should use highly trained military manpower to do what are some quite basic jobs," says British Gen. David Richards, who commanded NATO forces in Afghanistan at the height of the Taliban insurgency last year.

But the growth of the civilian contracting industry has raised some fundamental questions: Who are these contractors and to whom are they accountable? Who is responsible when they are killed or injured? Can the government depend on them to deliver services at all costs? And should Canada be awarding contracts to former Afghan warlords?

In a five-part series beginning today, CanWest News Service examines the entire mini-economy of firms that support Canada's biggest military engagement in half a century, the war in Afghanistan. In recent years, civilian contractors have become so deeply embedded in the military infrastructure that Canadian soldiers rely on them every time they eat a meal, use the washroom and switch off their lamps at night. The series will focus on contractors offering services on the ground, but will also examine companies that produce goods such as bottled water and equipment such as guns and ammunition.

At the top of the contracting hierarchy is SNC-Lavalin PAE, the Forces' prime logistics provider. Under a 10-year contract worth as much as $700 million, the company provides a range of support services, from the maintenance of non-combat vehicles to the management of the military's internal communications system at Kandahar Airfield. The company is employed under the Canadian Forces Contractor Augmentation Program, known as CANCAP.

Dalhousie University researcher David Perry, one of the few academics to study the subject, says government watchdogs in the United States have extensively reviewed civilian contracting. Some critics, however, say Canada lacks comparable oversight systems.

One of the only known audits of the CANCAP program was completed last year by the military's chief of review services (CRS). That June 2006 report found the military lacks an overall policy on the use of contractors, and has not conducted a thorough cost analysis. It found many senior officers lack the expertise to monitor quality assurance, or even audit an invoice. But the military says it has stepped up training and improved oversight of the program since the report.

The finding was echoed in a December 2006 slide show on CANCAP, released under the Access to Information Act. Prepared for the Forces' Expeditionary Command, the branch of the military that controls all overseas missions, it called for additional reporting on quality assurance.

Questions about transparency and accountability extend beyond CANCAP. The Defence Department has refused to disclose the names of contractors that have received almost $42 million on the Afghanistan file. CanWest News Service obtained the list through Access to Information, but the department blanked out all vendor names, citing a section of the law that allows the government to withhold information harmful to the "defence of Canada."

The data show the military has considerable discretion over how contracts in Afghanistan are awarded and disclosed. The $42 million in contracts are stored on an internal departmental database. Some contracts in the database have been disclosed on the department's website, but many have not. Furthermore, military commanders are not required to report all contracts to the internal database, according to department officials. Therefore, it is impossible to know how many contracts have gone unreported.

While western firms are clearly the biggest winners, the contracting boom has also created a relatively lucrative business for Afghan firms. However, in some cases, contracts appear to have been awarded to former warlords now allied with NATO.

Individuals with links to President Hamid Karzai have also forged strong commercial links with the Canadian military.

For example, the military's censored documents disclose a payment of $300,000 to rent vehicles. The company's name is blanked out. However, by cross-referencing contract numbers in publicly available databases, CanWest News Service determined that a company named "Sherzai" won the contract. The company bears the same name as Gul Agha Sherzai, a former warlord who helped Mr. Karzai rout the Taliban from Kandahar six years ago, and who served as the province's governor until 2005. Mr. Sherzai is a former mujahedeen who fought the Soviet occupation of the 1980s. He is now governor of Nangarhar province.

Sherzai, the company, received $1.14 million worth of contracts from the Forces between January 2006 and March of this year, almost $900,000 of that for transportation services. Another $240,000 was for services related to "defence" and "research and development." No other explanation for the work is available.

Since early 2006, the Canadian Forces has also awarded nine contracts worth more than $340,000 to an entity referred to in government records as "Gulalai" and "General Gulalai."

Gen. Gulalai was a southern Afghanistan warlord who also backed Mr. Karzai's efforts to win back the Kandahar region from the Taliban. Defence Department disclosures do not detail what Gen. Gulalai did for this money, listing only "professional services," "transportation" and "R&D."

During an October 2006 meeting of the Commons defence committee, NDP defence critic Dawn Black asked then-defence minister Gordon O'Connor to explain why the military was doing business with warlords.

"It's not unusual to have to deal with people you call former warlords. That's the way it is in Afghanistan," Mr. O'Connor replied. As Canada and its coalition allies expand their use of contractors, they are entrusting more high-risk work to Afghans.

In Kandahar City, the demand for extra muscle has cultivated an entire neighbourhood of Afghan guards-for-hire. The "commando district" is home to hundreds of well-armed men who once filled out the militias of regional warlords. They earn about $300 U.S. a month to provide security to firms that win contracts with NATO countries, said Rohullah Khan, a former militia commander.

Mr. Khan oversees about 250 guards who protect private convoys with an arsenal of rocket launchers, AK-47s and heavy machine-guns. During the past year, 50 of his guards have been killed in battle with the Taliban, he says. "No one," he says, "wants to do this work."

Tomorrow: War makes strange bedfellows. Tim Hortons and other businesses in Afghanistan.
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Seoul to Send Reconstruction Team to Afghanistan
By Yoon Won-sup Korea Times, South Korea
The government decided Tuesday to send a provincial reconstruction team comprised of private experts to Afghanistan when it pulls out Korean troops there by the end of this year.

The team consisting of 30 doctors, nurses and pharmacists will take over the Dongui Medical Unit, which has conducted medical services since September 2002.

The government has submitted the plan to the National Assembly.

``At the request of the Afghan government to keep helping in the reconstruction of the war-devastated nation, we decided to send the provincial reconstruction team,'' a government official said on condition of anonymity. ``The first members of the team will leave for Afghanistan next month to take over the Dongui Medical Unit.''

The official further said that while the currently envisioned team is comprised of 20 to 30 people, the number of personnel can be increased, depending on the local situation.

The medical team will stay in the U.S. airbase in Bagram, about 50 kilometers north of the Afghan capital of Kabul, where Korean troops have been stationed,.

However, some civic groups criticized the government move, saying the government is just replacing the soldiers with civilians for the same recovery job.

Particularly, the civic groups were concerned that the plan may breach Korea's agreement with the Taliban insurgents, who kidnapped and released Korean Christians after some 40 days in captivity on the condition that Korea withdrew its troops by 2007.

The insurgents killed two out of the 21 Korean hostages, who went to Afghanistan to offer voluntary medical services.
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US plans to train Pakistani tribes to fight Al-Qaeda, Taliban: report
Washington (AFP) - - Drawing from its experience in Iraq, the US military has developed a plan that calls for recruiting Pakistani tribal leaders to fight Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, The New York Times reported on its website.

The United States has used this tactic in Anbar province in Iraq, where the military has been able to enlist some local Sunni tribal leaders to back it in combating Al-Qaeda in Iraq and other foreign fighters.
Citing unnamed US military officials, the newspaper said Sunday the plan had been outlined in a strategy paper prepared by the staff the Special Operations Command, but has not been formally approved by the command's leaders.

However some elements of the strategy, The Times said, have already been given the green light in principle by the Pentagon and its Pakistani partners.

These include a 350-million-dollar proposal to train and equip the Pakistani Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force that currently has about 85,000 members coming mostly from border tribes.

The report came amid unrest in Swat, a scenic northwestern valley, where pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah is leading a campaign for the imposition of harsh Sharia law in the valley.

Fazlullah is nicknamed "Mullah Radio" because he runs a pirate FM radio station that calls for a holy war on government forces.

Up to 500 Islamist fighters were believed to be holed up in the Swat valley, led by a "hardcore" of 50 mostly foreign militants, especially Uzbeks, according to the Pakistani military.

Insurgent advances in and around Swat have embarrassed the government of President Pervez Musharraf, who cited growing Islamic militancy as one of the key reasons for imposing emergency rule two weeks ago.

He has since ordered the regular army -- rather than the locally recruited paramilitary forces -- to take the lead in tackling the unrest.

In light of these developments, The Times said, some US counterterrorism experts are wondering if Anbar-style partnerships can be forged without a significant US military presence on the ground in Pakistan.
It is also unclear whether the Pakistani tribes would be willing to offer enough cooperation, the report said.
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Afghan burden tasks Nato allies
By Caroline Wyatt - BBC News, Noordwijk
Tensions over Nato's mission in Afghanistan are clearly far from over, though the message from Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was one of reassurance.

Speaking at a meeting of Nato defence ministers in the Dutch seaside resort of Noordwijk, he dismissed the idea that the mission was facing a crisis, and said some Nato countries had now offered to contribute more.

Despite a resurgent Taleban and pressure on some Nato governments - such as the Netherlands and Canada - to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, the Nato chief insisted the alliance was making good progress there, and would see the job through.

Although the US stepped up the pressure at the meeting, there were no offers of major reinforcements, though up to nine nations may now be willing to increase their contributions.

However, what seems to be promised are more soldiers to help train the Afghan National Army (ANA) rather than to take the fight to the Taleban, as the US would like.

America wants more nations to help with the war-fighting aspect of Nato's mission.

The US currently supplies half the overall foreign forces in Afghanistan, some 15,000 of them working on the Nato mission in the south, while Britain is the next largest contributor, with 7,700 troops fighting fierce battles with the Taleban in Helmand Province.

Some member-countries, such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain, are constrained by so-called national caveats, which restrict where they can station their forces and whether or not they are allowed to fight.

German troops, for example, are confined to the relatively peaceful north in a non-combat role.

German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung announced at the talks that his country would triple the number of military trainers embedded with Afghan units to more than 300.

France promised to send several dozen extra trainers to Uruzgan Province, where Dutch troops are based.

Betraying a hint of the tensions underlying the meeting, Mr Jung rejected US calls for the German trainers to accompany Afghan units into the south, and criticised US calls for Nato allies to provide more troops.

"We need security and reconstruction and development: that is the wider concept," he said. "That's why I think these calls simply for more and more military involvement are misguided."

So are Britain and the US being asked to do too much, while others do too little? Jaap de Hoop Scheffer insists not.

"They're shouldering an important part of the burden, given the fact that in the southern part of Afghanistan where they are, the going is tough from time to time," he said.

"I keep saying that the fewer national caveats the better, and the more financial and military solidarity the better."

Britain itself sent out a strong message at the meeting that Nato must stick together as an alliance, if it is not to lose its credibility - and that nations wavering about long-term commitment must be supported and kept within the fold.

The Dutch, for example, have 1,600 troops in Uruzgan province, but are under pressure at home to bring the troops back when their current commitment ends next autumn.

If the Dutch leave, that could have a knock-on effect on Canada, where opposition parties are keen to bring their troops' war-fighting contribution around Kandahar to an end.

Experts warn that time is running out to get it right, with reconstruction in Afghanistan progressing more slowly than expected, and the Taleban regaining some hold in the south, in parts that the ANA is not yet able to protect.

Nato commanders on the ground have also said they need more troops and equipment, though the secretary-general said that 90% of what had been promised had been delivered.

Dr Paul Cornish, security expert at the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House, believes this mission is a crucial test of Nato's will.

"What you're seeing is some member states of Nato saying 'we're part of this mission, and we want the overall thing to achieve its goal but we won't take the risk that others are taking'," he said.

"That is divisive and it's corrosive at the heart of Nato, so there are some very fundamental problems that are being taken very seriously indeed at the highest levels."

Despite the tensions, though, Nato's allies are still agreed on one thing: the mission in Afghanistan cannot be allowed to fail - because as well as Afghanistan's future, Nato's credibility, too, is at stake.
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A spouse loses her comrade, a bride-to-be loses her groom
INGRID PERITZ - From Monday's Globe and Mail November 19, 2007
MONTREAL — One woman grieved in uniform in Kandahar, marching behind the casket that held both her comrade and her husband. Another woman grieved halfway across the world in a small Quebec town, mourning the soldier she had planned to wed when he returned home.

Two women, two broken hearts and lives, two more Canadian casualties in Kandahar.

Corporal Nicolas Raymond Beauchamp and Private Michel Lévesque Jr. became the 72nd and 73rd Canadian soldiers to die in Afghanistan when a roadside bomb exploded under their light armoured vehicle Saturday morning.

Their deaths bring to five the number of casualties from CFB Valcartier, Que.

In the case of Cpl. Beauchamp, 28, he left behind a woman who shared both his life and his passion for emergency medicine. Cpl. Beauchamp, a medic with the 5th Field Ambulance, lived with Corporal Dolorès Crampton, a medical technician. The two were serving in Kandahar at the same time.

Cpl. Crampton is believed to be the first Canadian soldier to face the grim task of escorting her own partner's body home from Afghanistan.

In Canada, the common-law couple lived in the community of Pont-Rouge, west of Quebec City, with their two dogs and three cats. Cpl. Beauchamp was deployed to Kandahar last summer and Cpl. Crampton followed two weeks later, a neighbour said.

“It wasn't her turn to go, but she made a request to go at the same time,” said Claude Gagnon. “She wanted to be with him.”

For Cpl. Beauchamp, the mission was a chance to carry out the duties he had dreamed about since adolescence.

“He was warm-hearted guy who knew there was a job to do and how to do it,” Master Corporal Patrick O'Regan said from Valcartier base Sunday. “He was one of those people I would trust with my life because he did his job so well.

“If I was injured and looked up and saw Nick, I would have no worries.”

A Valcartier spokesman said several military couples are serving in Afghanistan. But until now, none has publicly shared in the sombre ramp ceremony at Kandahar Air Field. At twilight, Cpl. Crampton marched slowly behind her spouse's casket, holding a pillow bearing his beret, while a piper played Amazing Grace.

Another family tragedy unfolded in the Quebec community of Rivière-Rouge in the Laurentians north of Montreal.

Pvt. Lévesque, 25, had been home on leave earlier this month. During that time, he proposed to his 18-year-old sweetheart. According to local reports, she told her friends she was pregnant.

“He was a young man full of hopes and dreams. That's how it is when you're in love at that age,” said Déborah Bélanger, the mayor of Rivière-Rouge and a friend of the family. “It's been very difficult for the whole family. It's not normal for parents to lose a child.”

Pvt. Lévesque was an enthusiastic young soldier with the 3rd Battalion, Royal 22nd Regiment, who was determined to serve in Afghanistan despite his parents' reservations. Last June, during a party thrown by the town, he told a local weekly newspaper he felt prepared for the mission.

“Of course, danger is present, but it's less dangerous than on the roads” of Quebec, he said at the time.

Last night, in a written statement, the Lévesque family said: “The only thing we can hold on to is Michel left us proud and happy. He believed in the Canadian Forces and this mission.”

Ms. Bélanger said flags have been lowered to half-mast in her community of 4,500. “This is a small community. Everyone knows each other. Everyone is in a state of shock.”
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10 policemen disarmed, arrested in Kandahar
LASHKARGAH, Nov 18 (Pajhwok Afghan News): 10 policemen of Tarnak check post, of Daman district in southern Kandahar province, including its commander were disarmed and arrested upon public complaints, officials of Daman told Pajhwok Afghan News on Sunday.

District police chief of Daman, Col. Ghulam Rasool said that the policemen were accused of robbing ten thousands afghanis from a resident of Khost province.

He said that this step has been taken upon a number of public complaints received about the involvement of these policemen in corruption and misuse of power.

Highway robberies are not a new thing in the southern provinces of Afghanistan.

Commuters are charged from 10 to 50 afghanis on majority of check posts on Kandahar-Hirat highway which is busiest route and remain overcrowded with heavy traffic.

Gul Mohammad, a driver of this route told this news agency that he had to grease the palm of the policemen almost daily.

A policeman, who pleaded anonymity, however said that the meager salary awarded to them does not cater their needs.
Abdul Samad Rohani
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Fire during military training causes injuries to civilians
KHOST, Nov 18 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Five civilians including two children sustained injuries due to the firing of security forces during a military training in southeastern Khost province.

Haji Muhammad Hassan, guardian of a minor and a local elder told Pajhwok Afghan News that the tragedy occurred Saturday afternoon.

 "My child loss his limb due to the firing," he lamented.

The victim's father complained the Afghan and foreign forces based in Nader Shah Kott district of the province sporadically conduct military exercises in the area without proper safety and security measures to protect the civilians.

"In the past too, such exercises took place but those were not targeting civilians and their houses" he recalled.

He demanded of the security officials to be cautious in future or they will have no choice but to abandon their home and hearth.

Confirming the unpleasant incident, Col. Israr, Commander of the 1st army brigade in 203 Thunder military corps, said foreign forces were involved in Saturday's incident not the Afghan National Army (ANA).

"We are deeply saddened by the incident and had demanded the officials concerned for better treatment of the injured "he informed.

Daud Khan Shaheedzoi, head of the provincial council while strongly condemning the incident, told this news agency that it was an intolerable act of recklessness.

Ironically the incident occurred a day before when UNHRC director visited the area and met the families who had suffered in various incidents of violence in the province.
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